Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2018
Finney (1965) has defined drug monitoring as ‘any systematic collection and analysis of information pertaining to adverse effects or other idiosyncratic phenomena associated with the normal use of drugs'. The purpose of this study was to devise a method which could reliably detect and evaluate the frequency and nature of untoward events in a psychiatric population, examine selected factors which might influence the appearance of these events and finally study the inter-relationships between patient, drug and events. In a psychiatric unit where electroplexy is a common form of treatment and is often combined with drug therapy it is as essential to study the effects of electroplexy as it is to study the effects of drugs; in this paper, therefore, the word ‘drug’ is taken to include electroplexy. This paper describes the design, implementation and results of the monitor as a detection device, and looks at factors which were found to be associated with the occurrence of untoward drug events. No attempt, however, was made to examine the effects of other treatment measures, such as psychotherapy.
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